Data storage media are commonly used for storage and retrieval of data, and come in many forms, such as magnetic tape, solid-state memory, magnetic disks, optical tape, optical disks, holographic disks, cards or tape, and the like. Devices using solid-state memory for mass data storage are becoming more prevalent. As an example, solid-state drives are used in place of hard disk drives in some laptop computers. Solid-state data storage devices are also commonly available as portable data storage devices, including Universal Serial Bus (USB) flash drives.
In some solid-state drives, data is stored on small integrated circuits called NAND chips. The data is non-volatile in nature, and remains intact even after power is removed. The NAND chips are small, typically fragile pieces of silicon, and attached to a printed circuit board (PCB) via electrical interconnects. To provide greater capacity, solid-state drives often include multiple NAND chips attached to a single PCB.